August 8, 2010

Sometimes the subject in one’s lens is far more wonderful than the technical abilities of the fool behind it, and my posting today is a fine example. If ya want slightly better bald eagle shots, try this earlier entry. Regardless, I offer these pics, taken in a rare moment of ingenuity as I precariously held my camera tight up against the eyepiece of my telescope, only because they made me laugh. To wit: yesterday this island enjoyed, and I do mean enjoyed, the first rain we’ve had in well over a month. Contrary to popular myth, it actually does not rain cats and dogs here, nor even mice and gerbils (shhh! don’t tell anyone!). In fact, no mammals fall from the sky in the San Juans, period (unless you are these folks, who miraculously survived their harrowing experience in the woods, which occurred very close to where I’m typing this).

So when an unexpected mid-summer shower comes along, the dry grasses and the even drier people get a blast of invigorating negative ions that just feels great against the warmish air. Well, great to us. I’m not convinced this fellow shared our glee:

To go from being the nation’s most distinguished and imposing icon, to, well… this kind of indignant embarrassment… sigh… well, we all have bad hair days, don’t we?

Paul Muller said,

Odd that here in the Land of Rain, we will go long periods of dryness and then rejoice
when it finally gets with it and soaks the parched grass. Mr. E. does look very
uncomfortable, and is missing much of his regal qualities. We welcomed the soaking down
here in America on the South Sound too. I got up early Saturday and mowed the lawn
just before it began to dump; felt very smug about beating the rain. Lawn and my wife’s
tomato plants loved it.

SLY JAZZ @ 1:25 cleared the sleep nodules out of the corners of my mind; great mix.
Even after years of listening to your music it never ceases to amaze me how you
race and stretch over myriads of types of composition, stepping sure-footed, like
every genre was your favorite.

Man, that plane wreck was incredible; those folks were so lucky to walk away from it.
Do you ever hit down drafts or gusts that wrinkle your brow on your many flights to
and from your island kingdom?